BHP Billiton Rock and Ice Ultra
Frost Bitten and Going Home
Rob Howard / 24.03.2008
Matrix Village was almost deserted mid-morning, with just a couple of retired racers sitting in their tents, including a frustrated and injured Rick Hellard who was re-dressing his frost bitten foot. The blistered, swollen and blackened foot had been assessed at the hospital as a grade 3 frostbite (4 being the worst case), and he knew he was going to have to wait a couple of weeks to find out how bad the damage to his foot has been.“I wanted to know now, of course,� he said ruefully, “but I’ll have to wait until some of the skin dies away, like everyone else with this kind of injury. The doctor was really good, and said she’d seen far worse, so I’ll just have to hope for the best. It’s still numb and not painfully to walk on, but I know I’m going to be out of competition for a few months.� As he is a professional triathlon coach and a committed endurance athlete that thought was obviously worrying him as much as the injury itself.
“I’m really fit, and did all the training in the snow this winter with no problems,� he said. “I think that shoe and the gaitor was too tight and constricted the blood flow, so it was just down to a gear problem. I did know it was getting cold and didn’t stop, just pressed on the finish. Mentally, it slowed me down as it’s hard to push when you are distracted by an injury, and I could have been quicker on the day.�
“When the medics saw the foot in the morning they said I shouldn’t carry on racing but I’d already made that decision. We are here for fun after all and an injury like this is no fun at all! I guess I’m just not cut out for winter racing. That was a lot of training and planning for it end up like this.�
Even so he later admitted he was thinking about how he could recover and do better next time. “I’m thinking should I leave it like this ...?�
After packing up Rick ordered a taxi as he’d managed to rearrange his flights and was leaving for home today. He dragged his bag across the snow and past the finish line to the taxi shortly before the first of the K-Rock finishers came into view across the ice.See All Event Posts
